Precious Resource From the Mountains: Viennese Spring Water

"Geology forms the vessel, in which ground water moves, is stored and released again. Austria has the Alps, where aquifers often occur that water can enter and collect in." This type of rock body with hollow spaces is ideal for directing ground water. In the foothills of the Alps – the regions of Salzburg, Upper and Lower Austria – and within the Alps, there are also deep basins that enormous reservoirs have formed in. Mineral waters have been collecting underground there for thousands of years.

Does Austria take good care of its water resources? "It’s a constant cycle", says Dr. Schubert. "The water is constantly being produced and replenished. And water resources management ensures that the ground water level does not fall. The water that is in circulation for use is a mere fraction of what is available." A reassuring message.

Perhaps not so famous around the world, but in Austria, is the Viennese mountain spring water. Ice cold, pure, straight from the mountains and "of excellent taste - not mineralised too little or too much", as Dr. Schubert attests. Isotope analysis shows that some of this water percolated as far back as the ice age.

150 years ago it wasn’t actually looking good for Viennese water, with contaminated drinking water from local wells leading to disease and high mortality in the city. Eduard Suess, Viennese exploratory spirit, geologist, and politician of the 19th century, was searching for a way to supply the urban population with clean water. The springs were to lie outside of the city region, in order to reach the households without contamination.

Suess finally found the solution within the alpine plateaus on the Schneeberg and Rax in Lower Austria. The untouched gathering grounds of the high mountains ensured that the water was clean.

But how could the water be led around 100 kilometres from the mountains to the city? The visionary was able to solve this problem too, with a brick canal and 30 aqueducts. The First Vienna Spring Water Main was completed in time for the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. For the first time, spring water gushed from the Hochstrahlbrunnen fountain on today’s Schwarzenbergplatz, and from this point onwards, the Viennese enjoyed first-class, clean spring water from the mountains. Even the emperor himself, Franz Joseph I., honoured the scientist in a letter for the development of the pipeline, which the Viennese would benefit from every day. The Second Vienna Spring Water Main followed as reinforcement in 1910 and has been supplying the city with water from the equally untouched Hochschwab Mountains in Styria ever since.